


Return to Mandalore

by TabbyWolf



Series: Hope will never die [5]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Confession, Explosive family bonding, F/M, Gen, Siege of Mandalore, awkward family dynamics, dancing around feelings, time travel fix-it au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-10
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-01-26 20:57:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21380491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TabbyWolf/pseuds/TabbyWolf
Summary: Jaig is put in the 332nd and send to retake Mandalore with her mother. Only one small problem, neither her, nor Rex, know how to tell Ahsoka that Jaig is actually their daughter from the future.Also, they know the deadline to change the future is drawing closer, because Jaig knows how the siege ended in her timeline
Relationships: 332nd battalion & Ahsoka Tano, 332nd battalion & CT-7567 | Rex, 332nd battalion & OC, Ahsoka Tano & OC, CT-7567 | Rex & OC, CT-7567 | Rex/Ahsoka Tano, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker (mentioned)
Series: Hope will never die [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1400095
Comments: 26
Kudos: 83





	1. Family reunion

**Author's Note:**

> Here is the next part. Enjoy :) I tried to get a bit less into Jaig’s perspective here

Ahsoka dropped out of hyperspace near the Resolute. The star destroyer looked the same as it always had. Her ship’s comm beeped, and she answered it.

”This is the Resolute. Unidentified ship, identify yourself” a clone she recognised vaguely said. She wasn’t really familiar with the bridge’s crew.

“This is Ahsoka Tano, requesting permission to board”

“Commander Tano, it’s good to see you again. Proceed to the main hangar”

“Thank you“ she said that she made for the hangar.

The doors opened, and she landed the small ship inside.

As soon as she walked down the ramp, she was greeted by Anakin practically flinging himself at her. His metallic hand came down hard on her back as he hugged her.

“I’ve missed you too” she said.

“Ahsoka, it’s good to see you again” Obi-Wan said.

“It’s good to see both of you again”

“We should catch up” Anakin said “but we should see the men first”

“Of course, I can’t wait to see them” she said as he let go of her.

“Follow me“ Anakin said as he led the way.

Several clones saluted her as she walked through the corridors.

“They shouldn’t salute me anymore. Not since I left the order”

“It doesn’t matter to them. It’s a sign of respect. They know what you went through for them, day after day, Battle after battle. Loyalty means everything to the clones”

He opened a door to reveal Rex, standing there with his whole company and a LAATi behind him. He smiled at her. His armour was a little whiter than usual, like it had been cleaned recently.

“Company, attention!” He ordered and all of torrent stood at attention.

“Go ahead” Anakin said “they’ve been waiting to see you”

She walked into the room and looked around. All of the clones stood perfectly still, looking straight ahead behind their visors.

“As soon as Rex and the guys knew you were back, they got to work” she looked at the helmet Rex was holding. The paint job resembled her facial markings.

“The paint job is a little crude, but we think it gets the idea across“ he said as she gently touched the helmet he was holding.

“We’re glad to have you back, commander” he said.

“Thank you, Rex. But you don’t have to call me commander anymore”

“Sure thing, commander“ Rex said, smiling at her. Her heart skipped a beat at seeing his signature half-smile again. She knew he wouldn’t break easily, so she’d have to take the initiative. She threw her arms around him, pulling him close. He awkwardly snakes one of his arms around her while holding his helmet with the other.

“I missed you” she said.

“I missed you too” he said.

“At ease” Anakin said to the other clones and they all relaxed their posture, and a few of them came to her. Fives reached her first. He just put his arms around both her and Rex and hugged her, while Rex was awkwardly enduring it.

“I missed you too” Fives said.

“So did I” Jesse said as he joined in. Tup joined in as well, as did Kix and Echo.

“Wait, Echo?” She asked, surprised.

“Surprise” He said.

She pushed the other clones away to get a good look at him. He had three prosthetic limbs but he was alive.

“What happened to you?”

“I was blown up and got captured by the separatists. Rex found me again. I got lucky”

“I’ll leave you alone to catch up with the 332nd” Anakin said.

“The 332nd?”

“That’s right. We decided that you should have your own battalion”

“I... I don’t know what to say”

“That’s okay, we’re also throwing a party in the mess to celebrate you coming back the the GAR”

“Thank you, Anakin” she said. “Let’s go, boys”

“Go ahead without me. I’ll be there in a few minutes” Rex said.

She nodded and followed Anakin and the others to the mess.

* * *

Jaig saw everyone but her father leave. She knew confrontation had been unavoidable.

“Jaig, what were you thinking?“

“I’m sorry dad,” she said as she got out of the LAATi she’d hid in just before her mother entered the room “I just felt wrong. Like the force was warning me, but off”

”So, did you just hide because you’re nervous?”

“Maybe, I don’t know. I could’ve been, but it could also have been the force warning me" she admitted. “It’s hard to tell the difference sometimes“

“It’s OK. I can introduce you at the party.”

“I think it would be better if you introduced me in private” she said. “Considering the situation“

“That makes sense“

“I’ll make sure you get some food though” her father offered.

“Thanks dad”

* * *

“So that’s how we found Echo” Rex said.

Ahsoka put a hand on Echo’s shoulder “I’m glad you’re back. If you need to talk, I’m here for you”

“Thank you, sir. But I already have a support system and General Skywalker is helping me get a new hand”

“He wanted to keep the socket, but he also wanted a hand. I’m trying to figure out a way to give him both” Anakin said.

She nodded.

“By the way, has anyone seen Jaig?“ Anakin asked.

“Who is Jaig?” She asked, and she felt the entire table stiffen up.

“Jaig is our newest ARC trooper, and she didn’t feel well so she’s in the barracks.“ Rex said.

“She?“ Ahsoka asked

“Yeah, we got our first natural born recruit three months ago” Anakin said “I’ll go get her”

“General, wait ” Rex said, but Anakin was already going away.

“How did she make it to ARC trooper in three months “ Ahsoka asked.

“Blatant favouritism from our captain“ Jesse said.

“No, it was because she provided invaluable information to the republic” Rex argued

“What kind of information“ she asked.

“The identity of the Sith Lord“ Fives said

“Well, that does seem very important. But why did you promote her to ARC trooper, Rex? I mean, are you sure you want to shiny nat to be given this amount of responsibility?”

“Oh trust me, she was not taught to be responsible” Jesse joked.

“Hey, I did a great job teaching her“ Fives said indignantly.

Ahsoka just shook her head.

Right at that moment, the door opened, revealing Anakin and a very nervous looking Togruta in Mandalorian armour. That was, odd. The armour seemed to be made specifically for her, and even though she could tell the 501st blue paint job had been chipped and repainted, the metal was still shiny in the places that weren’t as easy to damage. Her helmet had Jaig Eyes similar to Rex’s, and stripes going up the side of her montrals that resembled her chevrons. Which was weird, because the girl’s lekku weren’t like hers at all. The marking were a golden yellow, and they weren’t exactly stripes, but they’re were still vaguely stripe shaped. They were very spotty and a bit asymmetrical though, it reminded her of the spotty pattern human-twilek hybrids had.

“Ahsoka, this is Jaig” Anakin said.

“Nice to meet you” she said.

Jaig took off her helmet and stood at attention “it’s nice to meet you too, commander”

She heard Rex sigh and felt him glare daggers at Anakin, who was completely oblivious to whatever was going on.

She took a better look at the girl without her helmet. She had white montrals with no markings, and they were a bit smaller than they should be for someone her age. The girl looked like she was about 16 but had montrals that were the same size as hers when she was 14. Her facial markings on her cheeks were similar to her own, but the ones around her eyes looked like Jaig eyes. Probably how she got the nickname. Something was off about her. Not in terms of behaviour, it was something about her face.

“Sir, is everything all right?“ The girl asked, frowning.

“Yes, I’m fine“ Ahsoka said. She finally realised what was different about this girl. She had eyebrows. Human eyebrows. Could she be part human? Probably not, as far as she knew hybrid between Togruta and humans did not exist. But Twilek-human hybrids did, as did Togruta-Twilek hybrids. So it could be possible that she had some human blood. Not that it matters, and it would be weird to ask.

“Come sit down with us” she offered.

“Yes sir” she said as she sat down between Jesse and Fives. Ahsoka could feel the nervousness radiate off of her. If nervousness was the reason for her overly militaristic behaviour, she was definitely fitting in with the clones already. Jesse handed her a banana and she started eating it with peel and all.

“Uhm... I don’t think you should give her that” Ahsoka said to Jesse “us carnivores can’t have too much plant based food and there’s chocolate cake so maybe she should eat that instead”

“It’s okay, she’s an omnivore” Kix said.

“You still shouldn’t be eating that, young lady” Rex said as he grabbed the banana from her hand and peeled it for her. He then proceeded to cut up the remainder of the banana into pieces, put them on a cake plate and handed them back to Jaig with a small cake fork.

“Rex, you’re not her mother” Jesse joked

“I won’t tolerate your sexism, soldier” Rex joked back.

“It’s not sexism, sir“ Fives said “Gender has nothing to do with your ability to be a mother”

“Yeah, just look at Kix” Tup joked.

“Guys, come on” Kix protested.

“Well, why else would you know those lyrics?” Echo asked.

“Which lyrics?“

“Whether you’re a brother or whether you’re a mother you’re stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive” Echo said.

“Ah ah ah ah stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive” Fives continued, hitting the high notes surprisingly well.

“It’s a mnemonic device for CPR” Kix said indignantly ”I might save your life with it one day”

“Well, I think Rex would be a great mom“ Ahsoka said.

“Thank you sir“ Rex said.

She smiled at him and he smiled back. It was good to be with her men again.


	2. Admitting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When they arrive on Mandalore, Ahsoka becomes jealous because of how close Jaig seems to be with the clones, especially Rex. So Jaig decides to just tell her

Jaig stood in the gunship with her father, her mother, a few other clones, General Kenobi and General Skywalker (or Anakin, as he started insisting she called him. It still felt a bit weird since none of her uncles referred to him like that). They were descending to Bo-Katan’s encampment out in the wilderness. She was nervous, she hadn’t met her aunt in this timeline yet, and she would be different in this timeline. She wasn’t even Mand’alor yet. Maybe she wouldn’t be this time. Regardless, she was going to have to watch her language around Bo-Katan and just address her with the same honorifics her dad and uncles used.

“Oh, by the way” Anakin said to Ahsoka. “I repaired your sabers for you. They had some issues but they should be good to go now” he said as he handed her her sabers. She turned them on, and two blue blades sprung from the hilts.

“They’re as good as new. Maybe even better” he said.

Ahsoka smiled at her former master.

“Thanks, Anakin”

“Touching down now” the pilot’s voice said over the speaker.

The doors of the gunship opened, revealing Bo-Katan and her nite owls.

“Welcome to Mandalore, Generals. Welcome back, Ahsoka” Bo-Katan said.

“It’s good to be back. I brought two battalions of clone troopers” Ahsoka said.

“Thank you for the reinforcements” the Mandalorian warrior said.

“We’re at your service, sir” Rex said.

“Ma’am” Bo-Katan corrected “but thank you, Captain”

“The 501st is the most elite battalion, closely followed by the 212th, and we will help you get rid of the Si-“ Anakin said as he was interrupted by his comm. He pushed ignore while General Kenobi gave him that look.

“I’m sorry about that. Anyway, we have a new battalion here as well. The 332nd is under the direct command of Commander Tano here, and made up from elite soldiers from the 5-“ the comm rang again.

“Excuse me” he said as he opened his comm. a small hologram of Master Yoda appeared.

“Skywalker. Alone, are you? Hmm?”

“No master Yoda. Is it important? I’m kind of in the middle of something”

“Very important, this is. Return to Coruscant immediately, you must. An emergency, this is”

“Of course, I’ll come back right away”

“Come too, Obi-Wan must. Take the 501st and 212th with you, you should”

“I’m so sorry, I’m afraid we’ll have to leave” General Kenobi said.

“What? Why?” Bo-Katan asked.

“The code we were send is the highest level of emergency” he said “I’m afraid we have no choice”

“We’ll leave the 332nd with you and send additional reinforcements as soon as we can” Anakin promised.

“Well, okay then” Bo-Katan said, clearly annoyed that most of her reinforcements were going away immediately.

“Don’t worry, ma’am” Rex said “we have beaten worse odds”

“I hope so” the woman sighed.

* * *

Ahsoka raised her glass together with her men. The Mandalorians has thrown them a welcome party, as was apparently common in Mandalore. They claimed it would help the troops get used to each other and help them get along better on the battlefield.

“So how have you been, commander?” Jesse asked.

“Nothing special. Lived on the streets of Coruscant for a while, then I ended up on Mandalore because Bo-Katan needed my help. What about you?”

“Not much. Got promoted to ARC trooper, as you probably noticed already” he said, as he showed off his pauldrons.

“Congratulations. I knew you would make it that far” she said.

“I got a mind control chip removed from my brain” Tup said.

“Whoa, easy Vod” Fives said. “That’s a lot to drop on her like that”

“I know, but I felt like I had to explain why my head is so messed up” Tup said as he drank the rest of his drink.

“You could switch to a regulation cut or just go bald to hide that” Jesse said, gesturing at the patch of unruly hair that Tup had around the scar. It had only been two months, and the hair was only 2 centimeter long by now

“Can’t you use hair glue to put it in the same direction as the rest?” Ahsoka asked.

“Hair gel? Yeah, that would work. It’s out of budget though, and it kind of sucks to have gel under a helmet”

“But back too the mind control chip, what happened there?”

“Well,” Fives said “it turns out we all had mind control chips in our head that could make us follow orders even if we genuinely don’t want to”

“And mine malfunctioned and I couldn’t tell friend from foe. It was infected. If Jaig hadn’t warned us, I would’ve died from it” Tup said.

“Yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask about her. Why is she here?” She said as she glanced towards where Jaig was talking to Rex, Echo, Bo-Katan and an unfamiliar Mandalorian.

“Why are any of us here?” Fives asked.

“Because the Republic paid the Kaminoans to grow us in jars and send us off to fight, _Fives_” Jesse said.

Ahsoka laughed “but why is she part of torrent? She’s a nat”

“So are you, but long story short we picked her up at 79’s. We were getting drunk because you left and asked her to join the army. The Captain was too drunk to say no, so we were forced to ask the General, who was also too drunk to say no. Not that he’d have said no if he was sober. So that’s how she joined up” Jesse explained.

“OK, but how did she make it to ARC Trooper in three months?”

“We already said that, sir. Favouritism from the captain“

“But why does he like her so much? And Rex would never promote anyone who wasn’t up to the challenge”

“Well, she has proven herself on the battlefield“

“As to why he likes her so much,” Fives said “You should ask her. It’s not my place to tell you”

“Fives, since when do you care?”

“I have always been a responsible adult”

“Sure you are” Ahsoka said, “I’m going to ask him“

“Be sure to do that in private,“ Tup advised.

She got up and walked towards the table Rex and Jaig were sitting at. When she looked at the two of them interacting, she felt jealous. They had only known each other for three months, but they were already very close. The rest of the men seem to like Jaig as well. And Jaig had joined up immediately after she left. Was Jaig her replacement? She knows the clones wouldn’t think of her as replaceable, but she didn’t know the clones did had a habit of trying to fill the empty space after someone was gone. Fives had done so after Echo was gone. He had immediately clung to Tup And insisted that Tup slept in the top bunk that used to belong to Echo. Because even if Tup wasn’t Echo, it was better than the seeing empty bunk, Fives had explained. Maybe her men had done the same to her. She couldn’t fully blame them. But still, it hurt.

“Rex, can I talk to you?” She asked.

“Of course“ he said.

“In private“

He nodded and got up. She walked to the edge of the camp, and he followed her.

“What’s the deal with Jaig?“

“What do you mean?“

“The men told me she joined up immediately after I left. I want to know why you let her join up.“

“Because she wanted to fight for the Republic. And she had important information.”

“You know that’s not exactly what’s going on“

“Fine, it’s also because I really like her. Is that what you wanted to hear?“

“Kind of, But this still feels wrong. I don’t know why, and I don’t know how. But there something you’re not telling me. And I think I know what it is”

“Oh trust me,“ He said, laughing “there is no way you’re going to guess this”

“Really? Because I think it’s obvious“

“It is?“

“Yeah, you’ve replaced me“

“Wait, Ahsoka we could never-“

“No, don’t try to deny it. It’s obvious. I can tell by how easily she's fitting in with the battalion. And how close she is to you. She’s even the same species as me, or at least mostly. She even has the same cheek markings. And I know that’s how you guys deal with loss sometimes. Just because I left doesn’t mean I can be replaced that easily!“ She said as she pushed him away.

Rex staggered backwards, most likely because he was caught off guard by her push, since she didn’t really push him that hard.

“Ahsoka I-“ he tried to say but she stormed away. She grabbed a bottle from a nearby table, and walked towards her tent. Part of her wanted Rex to follow her, but he didn’t. He just went back to his table.

* * *

Ahsoka heard a knock on the canvas

“Commander Tano?” A female voice asked “Can I have a word with you?“

It was Jaig. Great. If she was honest with herself, Ahsoka didn’t want to talk to Jaig. But it wasn’t her fault, and she knew that.

“Yeah, come in” she said.

Jaig opened the tent flap and came in with a bottle of water and some snacks, clearly intend on sobering her up a bit. She hadn’t drunk too much of the bottle she had taken with her, since the liquor burned her throat. Still, it was a nice gesture.

“Thank you.” She said as she accepted the water Jaig offered her. “What did you want to discuss?“

“I don’t really know how to say it, but it’s about what you said to Rex.“

“First name basis already?“

“Yeah, I guess” Jaig said sheepishly before falling silent for a minute.

Ahsoka just sat there, awkwardly.

“Can I just be blunt?“ Jaig asked.

“Sure” she said, unsure of what to expect.

“I’m actually your daughter from the future”

Ahsoka just stared at her. Then she laughed.

“Good one, I’m sure Fives would love that joke”

“I’m serious. And I can prove it”

“How?”

Jaig pulled two lightsabers from under her Kama. Ahsoka realised that they were her own, even though her sabers were still at her side.

“These sabers are all I had left of you” Jaig explained “they’re almost identical to yours, only a bit older and General Skywalker didn’t work on them. The blades are still green and yellow” Jaig said as she held out the sabers to Ahsoka.

She took them, and ignited them. The blades were indeed their old colours, and something felt off about them. The crystals inside were no longer attuned to her.

“The crystals are no longer attuned to me”

“I know,” Jaig said “you died in my timeline. I’m here too prevent that”

“This is hard to believe“ Ahsoka said. “I think I need more proof”

“Right” Jaig said as she pulled out her commlink. “Kix, can we do a DNA test real quick?”

“Did you tell her?” She heard the medic ask, confirming her suspicions a bit.

“Yes, she wants proof”

“Okay, come over to the medical tent. I’ve got the sequencer ready”

“Thank you” Jaig said.

* * *

When she got to the tent, Kix already had everything ready. He also seemed to know exactly what was going on. He pretty much instantly handed them swabs and put them in the machine right away.

“So, how are you feeling about this?“ Kix asked.

“Honestly, Mostly confused” Ahsoka admitted.

“We were confused at first as well.“ Kix said. “But honestly, I think a niece is great”

The sequencer pinged and they all saw the positive result on the holo display. They sat in silence for a few minutes, while Ahsoka tried to process this information.

“I still don’t know how it happened” she admitted.

“Sir, I thought you knew”

“I know that part! Just not how I ended up getting a child. Or how you ended up back here, in this time. Or who her father is. Do you think you could find her father with a DNA test?“ She asked

Kix just started laughing “I don’t think we can find him with a DNA test. There’s too many other options“

“What are you implying?“ Ahsoka asked.

“There’s literally millions of us“ Kix said.

“Rex is my father“ Jaig said , and then she turned to the medic “I didn’t tell her that part yet“

“Oh... sorry sir. That came out very wrong”

“It’s okay. But that can’t be. He’s a human”

“I’m half human” Jaig said, pointing at their eyebrows.

“But aren’t you all sterile?”

“Yeah,” Kix said “but vasectomies can fail. Especially when done at a young age”

“I need a moment” she said, as she walked outside. It was a lie. She needed a lot more than one moment. But she had to figure out a way how to deal with this, and she had to tell Rex. She didn’t know how though.


	3. Reconnection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin has an announcement regarding Padmé’s current state, and Ahsoka comes to terms with having a grown daughter

Ahsoka woke up to her comm beeping. It better not be Rex. She had avoided the Captain since she found out Jaig was their child from the future. She had avoided Jaig as well, but Jaig has seemed to understand that she needed space and had spend most of her time distracting Rex for her. She appreciated the gesture, but the fact that Jaig knew that she needed space only proved that Jaig knew her from the future, and it freaked her out.

The situation with Rex was weird too. She had had feelings for him for over a year, since Umbara. At least, that’s when she realised what she felt for him. She had held him for hours afterwards, and she had promised she’d never let anyone hurt him ever again. But she never told him how she felt, and she hadn’t been planning to. He was her subordinate, and she didn’t want him to go out with her because of his loyalty to her as his superior officer. That, and there was the Jedi code, even though that wasn’t applicable anymore. But now, it seemed like neither of them had a choice. They already had a child together, and while she didn’t really object to any of it, she wasn’t ready yet. Especially not a child. She was 17 for force’s sake. So she was avoiding both Rex and Jaig until she had figured it out, and the first day had been successful.

Her commlink beeped again. She turned around, and looked at the screen. It was Anakin. Great, he might have some news regarding the mysterious mission he went on. She picked up the comm.

“Ahsoka, I’m gonna be a father! I’m. So. Happy!!!”

“What?” She asked, not fully awake yet

“Padmé is pregnant, and she’s gonna have a baby! I’m so excited!”

“Ani, stay quiet” she heard Padmé say “the whole temple can hear you”

Anakin just pulled Padmé into view, pulling her close and kissing her temple. “You’re so beautiful, Angel. I love you so much”

“Right... congratulations. I have other things to attend to. It’s urgent, bye” she said before hanging up. She was happy for her master, but she didn’t really want to see him kiss his not-so-secret wife for the next hour, and she knew that was a plausible scenario. She sighed and got up.

When she stepped outside her tent, Rex was already waiting there, sitting on a crate with his datapad in hand. He got up immediately when he saw her.

“Commander. It’s good to see you”

“At ease, Captain”

“Yes sir” he said, sinking back onto the crate. He was obviously nervous. So was she.

“Did we get briefed yet?”

“No sir”

“Then we should probably see when the briefing is”

He nodded and started following her. He slowly seemed to regain his courage and started walking next to her instead of behind her like the regs said. Normally, she’d enjoy that. But now, she was dreading the question she knew he would ask.

“So... What did you and Jaig talk about the day before yesterday?”

“Uhm... some stuff” she said, trying to avoid the issue.

“Oh, what kind of stuff?”

“Her childhood and such” Ahsoka said. Lying to Rex was hard because it just felt wrong, but she didn’t want to have this conversation either. Vague answers would hopefully satisfy him until she found something to steer the conversation to.

“I suspected she’d tell you that” he said “and that why I wanted to talk to you, but I couldn’t find you yesterday”

“I don’t want to talk about it” she said.

“Why not? This seems important”

She stopped and looked around. No one was near, they were all eating breakfast probably. So she might as well confront him right now, so she turned around and raised herself as much as she could. Rex shrunk down, clearly intimidated by her sudden mood shift.

“Because I’m not ready for any of this!” She said. The shocked look on his face calmed her a bit, so she took a deep breath before continuing. “I’m gonna be honest with you, Rex. I like you. A lot. And I do have feelings for you. And I wanted a relationship with you if you wanted it. You’d just have to say the word. But now, I know we can’t have what I wanted. We can’t just cuddle and kiss, and hold hands, and move beyond that when we’re both ready. We have a child now. And I’m not ready to be a mother yet. I’m 17 and a half. I need time to process this, and I need you to leave me alone until I do”

He blinked at her, and then he stepped back.

“I understand” he sighed.

“Thank you. I’ll get back to you when I’m ready. Until then, it might be better to keep everything strictly professional”

“Of course, commander” Rex said, quickly falling back to parade rest.

“You’re dismissed” she said. Rex just nodded, and left. Ahsoka stared at him as he left. It broke her heart to see him fall back to his professionalism with her, but she needed time and distance. Just like how she needed space from Anakin and the Jedi a little over three months ago.

* * *

“She rejected me” Rex said as he walked up to the group of clones and Jaig eating breakfast.

The whole group looked up in shock.

“What?” Fives asked, perplexed.

“I... I didn’t see that coming” Echo said.

“That sucks man” Tup said.

“Yeah...” Jesse said.

“But how?” Kix asked, looking at Jaig.

She shrugged. Rex just sighed, and sat down between Kix and Jaig.

“She said she wasn’t ready”

Kix put his hand on his shoulder.

“When did they get together in your timeline?” Kix asked Jaig “maybe we can trigger the same events again”

“That would be a terrible idea since they got together on empire day” she said. When she noticed everyone questioning looks, she clarified “that’s the day that the Empire got founded. It was seven months into the siege, and also the day the Jedi order was wiped out. They always said that getting together was the only good thing that happened that day”

The group fell quiet.

“What’s the order of events here?” Echo asked.

“First, the Jedi allegedly staged a coup. My mom didn’t believe that part. Then, or at the same time, my dad told her how he felt. Just before order 66 was given. It probably saved her life, since she was with one of the few troopers who knew about the chip and had it removed. My dad asked Jesse to distract the other troopers by sending them in the wrong direction. He had his chip removed as well. During the attack, the Republic fell and the Empire was founded”

“Okay, so you know nothing of what happened before he told her how he felt?”

“Nope”

“It doesn’t matter” Rex said “she told me she wasn’t ready because of Jaig”

“What?” Tup asked “why?”

“I can’t say I blame her” Jaig said “she freaked out when I told her. Well, when I proved it. When I told her she thought I was joking. But when the results if the DNA test came out, she kind of left immediately. I didn’t talk to her since then. I know she probably needed the space”

“To be fair, I would freak out too” Jesse said.

“Same here. Especially with the medical implications” Kix said.

“I didn’t tell her that she could’ve died giving birth to me, and it might be better if we keep that a secret for now” Jaig said.

“How big were the chances?” Echo asked.

“She would’ve died for sure without a C-section, but she got a C-section in time so her chances of dying were very low”

“What’s a C-section?” Tup asked.

“You’ll have to excuse my brother” Kix said “reproduction wasn’t covered that much in our sex ed”

“It’s no problem” she said, before turning back to Tup “I didn’t come out. I was born with a hard head, like you guys were. Nats are supposed to have a soft head so they can squeeze out. So I had to be taken out surgically”

“How fast would you need to get her to the hospital to make sure she survives?”

“Within 12 hours, and she’ll be on maternity leave so there’s gonna be a civilian hospital nearby. But that’s not gonna happen in the foreseeable future. I was born four years from now. Let’s not worry about that”

“What if you’re never born in this timeline?” Fives asked.

“I don’t know, I think I’ll be fine though. If being born was necessary to exist, I wouldn’t exist now”

“Can we get back to the topic at hand?” Rex asked.

“Oh, right. It would be bad for this mission of our two CO’s aren’t on speaking terms right now” Echo said.

“We are. At least, professionally speaking. She knows I’m her captain and she’s my commander. She just doesn’t want to be more right now. So it’s back to formality between me and commander Tano”

Jaig winched at that.

“Sorry, it’s just terrible to hear you refer to mom like that. It feels cold after what I’m used to in the future. It was first names and disgustingly cute nicknames all the time”

“I’m sorry”

“I’ll go talk to her. I know she doesn’t want to deal with me, but maybe it’ll help her if she knows I don’t expect her to be my mom. I know she’s 17 and not ready yet, but maybe she doesn’t know that”

“It could be worth a shot” Jesse said.

“Alright then, if you think it’ll help” Rex said. He hoped it would, because he knew it could be taken the wrong way easily.

* * *

Jaig swallowed as she watched her mother talk to Bo-Katan. She wasn’t sure if what they were discussing was important, so she approached slowly. Once she was in hearing range, she could catch parts of their conversation.

“Can you try to repeat this?” Bo-Katan asked “Bic ni skana'din”

“Bic... ni... skana... din” Ahsoka repeated slowly. Honestly, her pronunciation was terrible. She pronounced it correctly, but she has a heavy basic accent and still sputtered and spoke way to slowly. It was weird. She’d been fluent in the future.

“You’re getting there. Try saying Aliit ori'shya tal'din”

“Aliit ori’shya tal’din” Ahsoka repeated, a bit more confidently this time. She looked off into the distance and spotted Jaig. She looked away immediately.

Jaig just walked up to them like nothing happened. “Don’t worry, Commander. I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it one day”

Ahsoka gave her an annoyed look that told her she got the hint that she spoke fluent mandoa in the future.

“Thank you, Jaig” she said.

“Can I speak to you privately, Commander?” She asked.

Ahsoka sighed. “Is it important?”

“Yes”

“Alright then” she sighed “excuse us for a moment”

Jaig led her mother to the edge of the camp, where they could talk privately.

“What did you want to talk about?”

“About what I told you. And about me and dad”

Ahsoka visibly cringed at that.

“I’m sorry, I’m just not ready for any of this” she said when she noticed Jaig had seen her cringe.

“I know. But I don’t expect you to be my mom. You already raised me in the future, so you don’t have to do it again. Dad isn’t raising me either. It’s weird, but in a good way. Please, don’t let me get in the way of you being with dad”

She sighed. “Thank you. It does take a lot of pressure off. I’ll talk to Rex when I’m ready”

“Thanks. That’s all I ask of you”

“No problem. Oh, by the way. We have a mission coming up. Nothing major, we’re taking out a communication tower. But I figured it might be good time to bond”

“Sure, sounds good. Is it going to be just us?”

“No, we’ll be sending 16 people in total. Bo-Katan, seven of her nite owls, me, you, and six clones.”

“Isn’t 16 a bit much for blowing up a communications tower?”

“Yeah, it is. But Bo-Katan agreed that it’d be better to get used to fighting together before we face anything dangerous”

“That sounds like a good idea. Did you choose which clones we’re taking with us?”

“Well, Bo-Katan insisted on Rex, since he’s my second in command. But other than that, I haven’t decided yet”

“I think it’d be a good idea to include a few ARC troopers. Maybe Jesse? Or Fives and Echo. Echo has really been looking forward to fighting with Fives again, and he’s been learning to shoot with his new prosthetic. Though I don’t want Tup to feel left out. We should take him too?

“That sounds like a great idea. We should definitely take Kix with us if we’re taking Fives though” Ahsoka joked.

“Sure, like you never do anything reckless” she laughed.

“Why do I have a feeling you’re gonna be just as reckless as the rest of us?” Ahsoka said, smiling.

“Me? No, I’d never do anything reckless like, I don’t know... impulsively joining the army because I had nothing better to do?” Jaig said sarcastically.

“So that wasn’t an exaggeration?”

“Not really. Though I was actually in it to stay close to dad. I was alone and had been sent back in time, and I wanted to be close to the only person I knew. Luckily they were too drunk to care”

“That sounds awful. Why were you send back in time anyway?”

“Basically, because uncle Skyguy messed up the prophecy. So Morai send me back to warn him about the Empire and some other things. Which I did when the time was right”

“Morai? She sent you back in time?”

“Yes”

“I had a feeling that it had something to do with Mortis”

“Can you tell me more about Mortis?”

“Only if you tell me more about the future”

“You’ve got a deal”

* * *

That evening, Ahsoka watched as Jaig was training on the shooting range with a couple of clones. Jaig was good with a blaster, almost as good as her father. She had also sparred with Jaig. She was decent with her sabers, but she still had a lot to learn.

“She’s making progress” Rex said. She’d been so lost in thoughts that she hadn’t even felt him approach her

“That’s good to hear. How was she when she joined up?”

“Not bad, but she could only use small, one handed blasters for some reason”

“I wonder where she picked that up”

“I wouldn’t know, sir” Rex said with a straight face. She sighed. She had ordered him to keep everything strictly professional, but now she regretted it.

“Rex, we need to talk“

“Of course sir, is this about tomorrow’s mission?“

“Not exactly,” she said, getting nervous now "though it has something to do with it“

“What would you like to discuss, sir?”

“I was thinking of taking Jaig with us”

“That seems like a good idea. Do you have any other suggestions on who we should take?”

“I was thinking Jesse, Fives, Echo, Tup and Kix”

“Alright. I’ll inform them“ Rex said as he started to walk away.

”Rex, wait” she said.

He stopped and turned around, standing in parade rest “What is it, sir?“

“I’m sorry for being so distant”

“It’s not your fault, sir. I understand”

“I made a mistake” she said as she walked towards him.

“Sir?”

“This distance is hurting me too Rex. I don’t know what to do anymore. I don’t know what I want. Everything is moving too fast and too slow at once”

“I don’t know what to do about that, sir” he said apologetically.

“Stop calling me that”

“Of course, commander” he said.

Ahsoka frowned at him. This isn’t what she wanted.

“I’ll make you stop”

A confused “Commander?” was the only thing Rex got out before she closed the distance between them, and grabbed him by the collar of his blacks. She pulled him forward, and pressed her lips against his. She could feel him freeze at first, but he quickly relaxed and started kissing her back and put his hands on her waist.

She broke the kiss first. “Are you back to normal or do I need to try that again?”

“Maybe you should try it again, just to be sure” he said, smiling at her. She hit him in the chest playfully before kissing him again.

This time, their kiss was interrupted by someone coughing. Bo-Katan, her nite owls and the 332nd were watching them.

“Is this how the GAR normally works?” Bo-Katan asked.

“Sir, with all due respect,” Jesse said “we’re all former 501st, and no one knows how the 501st operates”

“Yeah, I should’ve been promoted to Marshal Commander at least two years ago, but General Skywalker didn’t want to do the paperwork” Rex said.

“Really?” Bo-Katan asked.

“You can confirm that with General Kenobi if you want to” Echo said.

“Don’t worry, it won’t affect us on the battlefield” Ahsoka said.

“I’m not worried” Bo-Katan said. “I know it can even be beneficial. Just don’t forget about your other men”

“I won’t” Ahsoka promised. “We should get some sleep Rex. Tomorrow’s gonna be our first mission here, and we should get some rest”

“Together?”

“Yes, I don’t want to be cold tonight” she said, as she pulled him into an embrace “and we have to talk about how to make this work”

“Alright” he said as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her between the montrals. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Jaig looking at them from the shooting range. He gave her a thumbs up and she returned the gesture. Everything was going to be fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it :) the fic after this is going to cover what happened with Anakin and how he will react to what’s coming (you know what’s going to happen), since this fic is happening parallel to the opening of revenge of the sith


	4. The first mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaig goes on her first mission with both parents and spends some time bonding with them

Rex woke up with Ahsoka snugly under his right arm, next to him in their shared bedroll. Last night, they had stayed up for about two hours and talked about a lot of things. Them, the war, Jaig, General Skywalker’s situation with Senator Amidala (who they now knew was pregnant, and their General was the father. And this was apparently his definition of secrecy)

He kissed Ahsoka on the forehead and she grabbed his blacks, pulled herself even closer and opened her eyes.

“Good morning” she said.

“Good morning beautiful” he said.

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yes, I slept great. You?”

“I slept amazing. You’re very warm”

“I know” he smiled at her “you’re finally not terribly cold”

“I know, I’m sorry for the previous times. I wasn’t in heat back then”

“What’s heat?”

“Every month, I go into heat. During heat, I get a slightly higher body temperature and I can get pregnant during that time. But I suppose 37 degrees Celsius feels better to you than my usual 35.5”

“Yeah, it does. Your feet aren’t cold. It’s nice”

“Thanks” she said, blushing “My lekku are also warmer. Do you want to feel them?”

“Y-yes” he stammered “if that’s okay with you”

“I wouldn’t have offered if I wasn’t”

He hesitated for a moment before he touched her right lekku with his left hand. It felt weird under his ungloved hand, but not in a bad way. Her skin was soft and smooth, like some scars were, and the tissue underneath it felt like the soft layer of fat he and his bothers usually built up during leave and immediately lost after being deployed for a few weeks. Underneath that, he could feel what he assumed to be muscle tissue. It twitched a little under his touch.

Ahsoka let go of the front of his blacks and moved her hand to the back of his neck, and kissed him again. He returned the kiss and she moved her hand up his neck, to his hair. She stroked against the grain before quickly pulling her hand back

“What’s wrong?” He asked.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that”

“Done what?”

“I touched your hair the wrong direction. Master Plo told me not to do that with the Tooka’s at the temple, and I suppose it works the same for humans”

“It’s alright. It tickles a little but it’s no big deal. You can do it as often as you want. It actually feels kind of good if you’re a little rougher”

“Like this?” She said as she slid on top of him, grabbed his head with both hands and kissed him passionately.

“Yeah, like that” he said as he put both of his hand back on her lekku and tried to massage them a bit while he continued to kiss her.

“Commander? Are you awake yet? We need to find Rex” Fives asked as he opened the tent without knocking.

They both stared at the arc trooper, who stared back in shock or a second.

“Well, it looks like you found him. We have a briefing in five and Lady Kryze is expecting you” Fives said before walking out immediately.

“Well, we better get ready for today’s mission” he said.

“Yes, we should” she said with a sigh.

* * *

Jaig stood at the holotable in the war room in the main tent. Echo, Tup, Jesse and Kix were already there, but her parents weren’t present and Fives had gone to look for them.

“It’s not like him to oversleep, especially not when he has to make a good first impression” Jesse said.

“Yeah, I worry about him sometimes. He’s kind of chaotic nowadays” Tup said.

“No offence, but what did you expect? This guy puts up with Skywalker on a regular basis. He needs his rest” Kix said.

“Well, he didn’t get any tonight. Congratulations on your birthday in four and a half months” Fives said as he barged in and shook Jaig’s hand.

“Nine, she doesn’t have accelerated ageing” Kix said.

“Also I was born four years from now” Jaig added.

“Uhm... what?” A male nite owl said, his helmet turned sideways.

Jaig pulled her hand out of of Fives’ grip. “It’s hard to explain”

“She’s Rex And Ahsoka’s kid from the future” Fives said.

“Really? That seems hard to believe” Bo-Katan said.

“That’s fair” Jesse said “I wouldn’t have believed it either without proof. We can show you later if you want to”

“How are you so relaxed about this weird situation?”

“We’re used to weird stuff” Tup said.

“No, you’re not. Not unless you had to personally remove bug stingers from your generals mouth” Kix argued.

“What?” Fives asked.

“He ate bugs once and one stung him in the back of his mouth. I had to remove it with pliers and shove ice cubes down his throat to stop the swelling”

“What? Did Skywalker eat bugs again?” Rex asked as he walked in with Ahsoka right behind him.

“No, not this time”

“Good.”

Bo-Katan just rolled her eyes “can we plan today’s assault now?”

“Of course” Rex said “what’s the plan?”

“There’s a communications tower five kilometres from here.” Bo-Katan said. “Our scouts say it’s relatively unguarded. They've spotted only two guards. We should be able to snipe them. As much as I’d prefer to fight them face to face, we can’t risk them sending a distress signal and alerting the others. We should also keep them alive. For my sister, and because I don’t believe in dishonourable killing. Then, we should drag them away, tie them up and leave them for the others to find, after we destroy their communication tower. The rest of my people will move camp in the meantime so they can’t find us. Any questions?”

“No sir”

“Good. Captain, can you update me on the situation with Jaig on the way there?”

“Of course”

“Good. It’s time to move out”

* * *

They found the tower as expected, in a canyon next to a stream of water.

“OK, so what’s your next step” Rex asked.

“You should go to that ridge over there, and snipe the guard. I’ll send my sniper up the other side. Ahsoka, go with him as back up just in case. Jaig, go with your father. Once you’ve sniped them, four of my men will grab the guards. After they’ve been dragged away, the rest of us will plant the bombs.”

“How are we going to get up there?” Rex asked. The ridge was about 50 meters off the bottom of the canyon, about half the height of the tower.

“Don’t you have a jetpack?”

“No, it’s not standard equipment. I know how to fly with one though”

“Okay, we have one spare jetpack. It can carry both of you if necessary”

“It won’t be, I can jump and climb” Jaig said

“Only a Jedi could jump that high” Bo-Katan said

“Well, my mother was a Jedi”

Rex nodded in confirmation.

“Alright. Let’s go then” she said.

* * *

When Jaig got on the narrow ridge, her father was already in position.

“The jetpack was faster” he said nodding at the jetpack he'd taken off so he could have his back to the rock behind him.

“It wouldn’t have been if you had to carry me”

“Fair enough. Can you give the signal that we’re ready”

“Roger that” she turned on her comm “we’re ready”

“Okay.” The Mandalorian on the other end said. “Do you have a clean shot on the left guard?”

She looked at her father, who nodded, the blaster already aimed at the guard. “Yes”

“Okay, hold on for a moment while I check in with the other sniper”

After a few moments, the Mandalorian came back on.

“On my Mark. Three... two... one... fire!”

Both blasterbolts hit their targets right in the helmet. Jaig knew that a bolt from this distance wouldn’t penetrate the beskar, but these men would be seriously concussed and out of commission for at least two weeks.

Then Kix and the three nite owls Bo-Katan had sent came to grab the prisoners when she heard a voice inside.

“Guys, are you okay?” A female voice said

Her father didn’t react. He probably didn’t hear it.

“Guys, there’s another guard” she said into the comm, just as two more guards, one male and one female, emerged and looked around.

Ahsoka and the Mandalorian sniper had managed to hide behind a rock, but she and her father had no cover on the ridge.

Her father immediately started shooting, but the rifle wasn’t as fast as his usual DC’s and they had him two to one.

She quickly grabbed the jetpack and put it on. Then, she jumped off the ridge as she drew both her sabers, got between them and her dad and started deflecting their blasterbolts back at them.

She hit the man in the shoulder. The woman immediately holstered her blaster and Jaig put one of her sabers away and drew her blaster, hitting the woman in the chest. She was stunned, and probably had a few broken ribs.

Jaig lifted both of them with the force and tried to get them down. They were heavy, but she managed to get them down unharmed as two Mandalorians, Tup and Jesse came to take them from her while the other eight people planted the bombs

After everyone had reached a safe distance, Bo-Katan pressed detonator and the whole tower went down.

“That went well” Jaig said.

“Yeah, I’m impressed with you clones. You’re good soldiers” Bo-Katan said.

“That you, ma’am” Jesse said.

Ahsoka came running towards them.

“Where’s Rex?”

Jesse turned on his comm “Captain, where are you?”

“Still on the ridge” he said and they all looked. There he was, with no jetpack. “I’m gonna need some help getting down”

“Just jump, I’ll catch you” Ahsoka said into the comm.

“No, I don’t want a repeat of what happened at Point Rain”

“I’m not gonna throw you this time, you can jump by yourself”

“Still no” he said.

Jaig sighed “I’ll get him” and she turned on the jetpack.

This was going to be a long mission, but a good one. And now, she had both of her parents with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. The next fic will be focused on what Anakin is up to during the siege of Mandalore. He’s gonna be much happier and more stable than he is in canon, though that’s a given considering... ya know

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading :) let me know what you think


End file.
